Roberta J. Pearson

Moline, Illinois Roberta J. Pearson, 85, of Bloomington, Illinois, former Moline civic leader, died Saturday, January 29, 2005, in Martin Health Center at Westminster Village, Bloomington. Services are 11 a.m. Thursday in the Celebration of Life Chapel at Trimble Funeral and Cremation Center, Moline. Burial is in Greenview Memorial Gardens, East Moline. Visitation is 3 to 7 p.m. Wednesday at the funeral home. Memorials may be made to Trinity Lutheran Church, Moline, Trinity Medical Center Auxiliary, Rock Island, or Hearts at Home National Ministry for Moms, Normal. The former Roberta Jane Townsend was born June 19, 1919, in Moline, the daughter of Ernest and Addie (Lund) Townsend. She graduated from Moline High School and completed three years at Augustana College, Rock Island. She married J. Richard "Dick" Pearson on October 5, 1942, in Moline. He died April 5, 1985. She was a member of the Moline School Board for 18 years, 1962-1980, was only the second woman ever elected to the Board of Education at the time, serving as president pro tempore from 1966-75, and served as the first ever woman Board President from 1977-1980. She started her public involvement as President of the Grant School PTA in 1954 and continued through PTA involvement as Moline PTA Council Board President in 1962. During her years on the school board, she was Vice Chair and Chairman of the Blackhawk Division of Illinois Association of School Boards, Chairperson of the Large District Councils in the State, 1975-1977, member of the IASB Board of Directors, Chairman of the 1977 IASB Annual Convention in Chicago and on the Legislation Committee. Roberta was a charter member of the Moline Commission on Youth, 1960-1975, and served as chairman for 2 years, during which time she initiated the Big Brother and Big Sister programs in Moline and served on their State Boards 1966-1968. She served on the Illinois Department of Corrections (Commission of Delinquency Prevention) Board, 1964-1981, where she helped troubled young girls appearing in court, and was Past Chairperson of the Rock Island County Youth Service Bureau 1975-1976. Through the Illinois Office of Education select committees she advanced Special Education Finance, Community Education, Free Textbook and Regional Services Planning. She received numerous honors, including the Moline Chamber of Commerce Community Service Award, 1970; Illinois Governor Richard B. Ogilvie's Governor's Citation for Distinguished Public Service in 1972; Honorary member of Delta Kappa Gamma, International Women Educators Society in 1972; Illinois Association of School Administrators Presidential Citation, 1973; City of Moline Citation, 1975; Youth Service Bureau Citation, 1976; IASA Presidential Citation, Blackhawk Division 1976; and a PTA Life membership, Book of Life and Special Honor Scroll in 1980. In 1984, the Quad Cities District of the National Association of Social Workers presented Pearson with its Citizen of the Year award for her work with youth and the community. She joined the Moline Public Hospital Auxiliary in 1980, served as President 1982-1986, led fund raising efforts for the non-denominational chapel at the hospital, and knitted hundreds of stocking caps for newborns at the hospital in the 1990's. She was a charter member of Irene Zimmer Circle of King's Daughters, a member of Moline Junior Service League, League of Women Voters. She was a life long member of Trinity Lutheran Church in Moline, and the first chairperson of Trinity's Lutheran Church Women. Her children and family honored her on her 80th birthday in June of 1999 at Short Hills Country Club in East Moline. In 2001 she moved to Westminster Village, a retirement community, in Bloomington. She enjoyed playing the organ, reading, needlepoint work, spending time with her granddaughters and outings with her life long friends from the Moline area. Roberta is survived by two children and their spouses, Patricia and Roy Knight of Mooresville, North Carolina, and James R. and Sherri Pearson of Bloomington, Illinois; two granddaughters, Christina Payton and her husband Christopher of West Chicago, Illinois, and Caitlyn Pearson of Bloomington; and several nieces and nephews. Remembrances and condolences may be shared with the family at www.TrimbleFuneralHomes.com. END OF OBITUARY